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Monday, April 10, 2017

Rags ro riches myth

While
a relative few individuals do make it from “rags to riches”
without being born rich, the statistical reality is quite different.Intergenerational”
earnings mobility is a measure of the likelihood that a generation
will earn more in real terms than earlier generations within the same
family.On
this, the United States actually scores third-lowest among the OECD
countries. Even worse, the level of inequality in the working-age
population is the highest.

The
latest assessment of the national mobility (for 16 of the OECD
economies) was conducted a decade ago, in 2008.All
the available evidence underscores that the results have only become
more pronounced since then. Moreover, any changes are relatively slow
to take effect.

This
low ranking for the United States means not just that there is a
great gap between rich and poor, but also that the children of rich
people remain rich – and often becoming even richer.And
U.S. children not born wealthy are relatively unlikely to move up in
income status after they enter the workforce.